[Metal elements from intraoral metal restorations]

Area of Science:

• Dental Materials Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Toxicology

Context:

• Intraoral metal restorations are common in dentistry.
• Dental metal allergy is a growing concern.
• Accurate detection of metal elements in restorations is crucial.

Purpose:

• To detect metal elements present in intraoral metal restorations.
• To identify the types and prevalence of alloys used in dental restorations.
• To investigate the co-existence of different metal alloys in patients with suspected dental metal allergy.

Summary:

• Energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (EDXRF) was used to analyze 120 intraoral metal restorations from 14 patients.
• The most frequent elements detected were Silver (Ag), Copper (Cu), Gold (Au), Palladium (Pd), Zinc (Zn), Tin (Sn), Cobalt (Co), Chromium (Cr), Indium (In), and Molybdenum (Mo).
• Au-Ag-Pd alloys were most common (65%), while Ag-Sn-Hg amalgams showed a decreased usage rate compared to a decade prior.

Impact:

• Identified frequent co-existence of diverse metal alloys in patients with suspected dental metal allergy.
• Highlights the need to avoid heterogeneous metals and alloys containing mercury (Hg) and nickel (Ni) to prevent dental metal allergy.
• Provides insights into the changing trends of dental alloy usage over the past decade.